Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill
Scottish Parliament
Thursday, September 11, 2008
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As a nation, Scotland is currently imprisoning a particularly high proportion of our own people by international standards. What is more a third of all offenders coming into prison have alcohol problems; over half have drugs problems and many have mental health problems.
Imprisonment in Scotland has steadily increased over the last 10 years and today's figures are at an all time high. Yet the paradox is that crime rates are falling. How can that be?
We inherited an unfit prisons estate. The Scottish Government is supporting huge investment in the prison estate with a commitment to build three new prisons and to provide an annual capital investment programme of £120m. This is a record package of investment, which will provide Scotland with a modern, fit for purpose prison estate.
Building prisons is not the single answer to this challenge, they are costly to build and expensive to run, each prisoner place costing the taxpayer approximately £40,000 per year.
The Scottish Government came into office committed to delivering a modern and coherent penal policy that has at its core - swift justice, payback, reparation and more effective management for those offenders for whom prison is the right place. And for those who are about to ask - bringing an end to the current arbitrary system of automatic and sometimes unconditional early release is an integral and important part of this plan.
And I confirm again that there will be a response published before the end of the year.
We want to consult on our plans, discuss them and listen to what others have to say. That is sensible Government. This debate gives us the opportunity to consult Parliament and to listen to what it has to say about the findings in the independent Scottish Prisons Commission's report "Scotland's Choice".
As today shows, we want a policy born from discussion, consultation and - hopefully - consensus.
We are already in discussion with CoSLA. That dialogue is already bearing fruit as I have been able to agree with CoSLA joint key objectives for delivering a coherent penal policy.
We have long held views about the current intolerable situation where prison numbers continue to break all records and where we now have over 8,000 offenders in custody and the dismal message this sends to our European neighbours about the state of Scotland. But we want to hear what others thought too.
We therefore set up the Scottish Prisons Commission with Henry McLeish as its chair to take independent stock of the situation and offer views on what the Scotland's future criminal justice system might look like.
And the Prisons Commission delivered. Within an extremely short timeframe, the Commission produced a report that is already getting international recognition. My thanks to Henry and his team for that.
The report paints two very different scenarios for the future. One is a broad far-reaching spectrum with, at one end, prisons that are internationally recognised as models of excellence housing only serious and dangerous offenders - the offenders who should be in jail; where the staff have time to work with these offenders to address their behaviour and reduce their risk to the public. The other end of the spectrum - and this is the vital part - will be a widely used and well respected system of community penalties.
The other scenario is entirely bleak and - as the Prisons Commission rightly comments - in many respects is where we are already heading. That future sees more prisons, just as overcrowded as the ones we have today; offenders still caught in the re-offending cycle with no future; communities no safer and much less optimistic. And of course let us not forget the schools and hospitals that will not be built because the money will have been spent on more prisons and on supporting the offenders locked up in them.
A new prison costs about £100m to build then each prisoner in it costs the taxpayer approximately £40,000 per year. So assuming that it's full the year round as of course it would be - that's another £28m.
These offenders should pay back the damage they've done in their community, not have the damage they've caused to their community compounded by us having to pay for their free bed and board.
The Commission's report also offers two stark choices - stay as we are and I have just outlined where that gets us. Or, face the challenge and choose the hard but, I believe, the right path and deliver a modern penal policy that can provide swift and innovative justice that will better tackle re-offending and enhance public safety.
Of course this is a challenge - but think about the alternative. Do we really want to be compared with the US where more people are imprisoned than at anytime in US history? Surely we can all agree that it is time to put the brakes on and change our direction of travel. We owe the people of Scotland that much.
I believe that an improved and flexible community penalties regime is the key. Much of what the Prisons Commission recommends about swift and effective payback is already an integral part of our plans for community sentences. This is re-assuring but we would also welcome Parliament's views.
I believe that there are 6 principles that form the bedrock of a robust community penalties regime: Immediacy, Visibility, Effectiveness, Quality, Flexibility and Relevancy.
Reassuringly, the Prisons Commission report shows that these principles are already being applied in many areas. The Commission found that valuable work is already being done up and down the country by criminal justice social work departments and other organisations and people working with offenders in the community.
Of course we need prisons. We need to protect our communities. But surely we should be trying to give those offenders who are willing to take it the chance of a better life. The Scottish Prison Service already try to give offenders the life skills they need to allow them to return to society better prepared to live a life free of offending. Where there are skills shortages, SPS will try, wherever possible, to work with all partners in providing these skills to prisoners.
What is the positive way to tackle re-offending. Reducing the numbers we imprison will free up the valuable Scottish Prison Service resources to deal more effectively with those whose crimes are serious or who present an unacceptably high risk to public safety. Whatever punishment is served - in community or in prison - at the end of it the offender should be better placed to get a job and contribute to society rather than simply being allowed to fall into their old ways courtesy of the proceeds or crime and tax payer funded benefits.
We asked the Prisons Commission to look at the feasibility of implementing the measures in the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007 as a means of achieving our aim to end the current arbitrary system of early release introduced in 1993. It concluded that, subject to certain modifications, the 2007 Act can still provide the means to deliver a comprehensive system for managing offenders who are sent to prison. We want to do this as soon as practicable as part of our wider plans.
The Commission also recognised that this intensive management, where the Scottish Prison Service and local authorities work together with offenders to reduce their risk, can only be delivered when there has been a significant reduction in the short term, low risk prisoner population. So once again we need to be innovative in the ways we deal with the vast majority of offenders currently getting short jail terms if we are to be able to deal properly with the more serious offenders.
We also need to create an environment in which wider cross sector collaboration can take place to join up the delivery of services. It is becoming increasingly evident that we need a much closer relationship among the criminal justice agencies. We must also encourage the other services like housing, health, education and employment to play their full part in supporting offenders and help reduce reoffending.
Getting this right is vital for all of Scotland. Our taxpayers money should be spent on pensioners and families, on enhancing education and developing industry, not more prisons.
Some will not like our plans or what the Prisons Commission recommends. So I ask you to use this time to offer constructive alternatives not blank criticism But remember that building more prisons is not on the agenda.
This is Scotland's problem, let us work together for a solution.
I will close with a very short but extremely insightful observation from the Prisons Commission - "A negative future is not inevitable and a positive one is not unattainable".